Key support programme will be expanded into next year

A KEY Welsh Government-funded programme to support disadvantaged people into work will be expanded in 2023, following the winding-up of two existing EU-funded programmes.

Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said the Cardiff Bay administration is stepping in to fund the expansion of the Communities for Work Plus (CfW+) employability programme.

Under the EU Structural and Investment Funds, the Welsh Government invested funds in a range of schemes led by the public, higher and further education sectors, third and private sectors, including those to help people into work.

Two of those schemes are Communities for Work (CfW) and Parents, Childcare and Employment (PaCE). Since 2015, £135m has been invested in the schemes which have, to date, provided community-based employment support and training to 41,000 individuals with complex barriers. Over 17,500 of these individuals have been helped into employment.

The UK Government had pledged to replace and at a minimum match the size of former EU funding in each nation of the UK. However, the Welsh Government says its budget will be worse off.

The Welsh Government is funding the expansion of the Wales-wide CfW+ programme from April next year. The expansion will see a doubling of its original £12m annual budget.

The CfW+ programme has provided employment support and training to over 30,000 individuals with complex barriers to employment, with over 13,000 being helped into employment.

Mr Gething has also announced the Welsh Government has secured an extension of the delivery of the EU-funded CfW and PaCE to the end of next March to ensure a smooth transition to the enhanced CfW+ programme.

Mr Gething said: “Despite the promise made by the UK Government that Wales would not be worse off from the UK leaving the EU, the reality is we are facing a loss of more than £1bn in un-replaced funding. The Welsh Government cannot fill the massive hole the UK Government has created in the Welsh budget, which means we and our Welsh partners – who have previously benefited from EU funding – will need to take tough decisions on what to fund in future.

“This Welsh Government is determined to help people into and remain in good-quality jobs. That’s why we’re taking action to fund a new Wales-wide programme to support people to do just that.

“While UK Ministers talk about ‘levelling up’ the UK, it’s this Welsh Government that’s delivering for people across Wales by funding transformative programmes that help to change their lives for the better.”